Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Saturday was perhaps the windiest day I've experienced thus far. Before the wind picked up however, I got to run my dogs on a very fun Jumpers course at an AKC agility trial down in Urbana, IL

Since it was such a small trial I had to walk the course for both dogs at the same time. Here is the course designed by Judge Kay Vonnahme:

Ruby and River both won their classes (24" and 16" respectively) I did all rear crosses with River actually starting with him on my right side. I'm very proud to say that he ran it only .79 seconds slower than Ruby but at 5.38 yps giving him his first World Team Qualifying time. What a good boy! With Ruby I did all front crosses with the exception of a rear over jump #12 and she gave me a nice tight turn there. Such a fun course to run and it was great getting to run River again if only for one day. :)

As an update to my previous post, I have decided on a breeder with the help of my instructor Sherry that is to soon to have a wonderful litter on the ground. I mailed my contract and deposit to her on Monday. As they say, things happen for a reason. Updates will be posted as news comes in! Very excited about this litter! :)

As some of you may or may not know, we have been looking at adding a new pup to our small pack. I've looked at a couple of Border Collie breeders and after seeing quite a few run in the past several years and spending time with a lot of them (not too mention running and training my ex boyfriend's dog) I knew exactly what type of dog I was looking for. Structure, health and temperament are priorities as is an "off-switch."

I've contacted a couple of different breeders and tried to do my due diligence on them and the dogs that have come from their kennels as well. Currently I have it narrowed down to two kennels, oddly enough on polar opposite sides of the U.S. One in New York, the other in Oregon.

"Some dogs are special dogs, even though they are not a first dog or an only dog or a last dog. In a crowd, they stand out, and in the heart they have a special place and when they leave, that place stands empty forever." -Unknown